“ By refocusing on people with this disease, this guideline acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique culture, and the social, economic and environmental circumstances in which they live.
The updated guideline identifies the systemic factors that drive disparities in best practice care delivery and offers culturally safe solutions.
We have come a long way from the first edition, and this journey has culminated in an important balance between cultural and clinical competence.”
RHDAustralia’s senior cultural advisor Vicki Wade was central in ensuring the new guideline addresses RHD as the leading cause of cardiovascular inequality and provide health professionals with a more holistic model of care
Read all Aboriginal Health and RHD articles published by NACCHO over the past 8 Years
Rheumatic Heart Disease Australia (RHDA) is proud to release the 2020 Australian guideline for prevention, diagnosis and management of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (3rd edition), available for download now at https://www.rhdaustralia.org.au/arf-rhd-guideline.
This website also houses several supporting resources, including a summary of the key changes from the 2nd edition, and an option to pre-order a printed version of the guideline.
Written by experts from across the country and developed in collaboration with key stakeholders and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory group, the 3rd edition will serve as the definitive guide to current ARF and RHD diagnosis and management in Australia, and contains significant changes and updates for clinicians to be aware of.
RHD APP
RHDA also has an app to assist clinicians in the diagnosis and management of ARF and RHD, available at: https://www.rhdaustralia.org.au/apps.
The app has been updated with content from the 3rd edition, and also contains an ARF Diagnosis Calculator which embeds the complex ARF diagnosis algorithms into a series of simple questions that assist clinicians to diagnose ARF.
If you already had the app on your phone, it should have automatically updated with the new content .